Pretty Little Thing
by Aelyna326
Summary: Part one of the Jade Myth Saga, introducing Christie. The beginning of a dark, twisted love story between her and our favourite original, Kol. Vampire hunter Christie is kidnapped, tortured and questioned; she escapes, only to find herself in the deadly embrace of an original vampire. Violence won't work, but maybe this is the girl who can out-charm Kol. Kol/OC
1. Prologue

_**Part One of the Jade Myth Saga... Pretty Little Thing...**_

**Prologue**

Finn had Sage, he thought he could hide it from us, but he wasn't as good a liar as he hoped. Everyone knew, Mother worked hard to keep Father from confronting him; she liked Sage, and Finn had always been her favourite.

Nik and Elijah had Tatia, or wanted to. I think they both had her, actually; the girl couldn't keep her legs shut. She was beautiful, but vain, and fickle, she never appealed to me.

Rebekah could have had any man she wanted, and she did; poor girl was always naïve, she thought they meant the sweet nothings they whispered to her. Mother was afraid she would end up like Tatia, some slut with a married man's child. She needn't have worried, my baby sister knew who to come to when she was in that kind of trouble. How many times did I climb through mad Ayana's window to get the required herbs my sister would stew up, ridding herself of that _little problem_?

Me, I was happy to have a pretty little thing for a night, and be gone by morning. No drama, no tears, no fights, and no _little problems_. Not that I had to deal with, anyway.

Nothing really changed in the millennia that followed; Finn stayed in his box, and Sage pined after him; Elijah pretended to be cold-hearted, while accidentally falling in love with every doppelgänger he saw; Klaus found a girl he fancied himself in love with, played with her for a while, and got bored – or killed her; Rebekah lost her heart to every man who smiled her way; I kept to my own pattern, charming a girl into bed when I wanted one, and making sure she was either dead, or alone, in the morning.

It worked for 900 years. But the 21st century proved to be my downfall – or maybe, if I'm being honest, it was Christina.


	2. Chapter 1

"_Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." _

– J.R.R. Tolkien

**Chapter 1**

They caught me outside school, knocked me out with a baseball bat, and bundled me into a van. They must have compelled some poor human, since it was still daylight outside – and I didn't smell barbecue vamp.

Four days they tortured me; burning and ice water and good old fashioned beating. When they went too far, did something my fragile, human body couldn't recover from, they would force their blood down my throat. They weren't even that desperate for the information, they just needed a way to pass the time between my capture and the vervain getting out of my system.

They couldn't know about the implant. It had been my idea, and my mother (who was a Veterinarian before they came for my father) refined it. A tiny, medical implant, as a delivery system for three years supply of vervain. I began to wish I could cut it out; allow myself to feel the sweet release of mind control, tell them everything they needed to know so they could get on with it and kill me. Some part of me knew they wouldn't, they would draw it out no matter what I told them; they were vampires after all.

I was proven right when one of them came down to question me under compulsion, believing I was vervain free by then, and I told him I knew nothing. He smiled, like he had guessed that all along, and told the others they could finish me. They didn't. Instead they made a game of it; feeding from me whenever they were hungry, and placing bets on how long I would last. I gave myself 8 days at the outside, presupposing they didn't get bored and kill me quicker. I had to act.

My escape attempt was feeble, I made it out of the cellar, but not even close to the front door – where the sun was shining so tantalisingly outside. When they caught me they laughed, and threw me back down the cellar stairs. My right wrist snapped on impact, and something very unpleasant happened to my knee. Only one working arm, and unable to stand without severe pain; there was nothing left to do, so I waited for death.

It was then, having given up all hope, that my second chance came along. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, blood loss and pain leaving my vision blurred, when a scream cut through the air. More followed, the wet crunching of stakes entering ribcages, and an accented voice asking where the girl was. It registered, somewhere, that 'the girl' was me. I stood shakily, one thought going through my head; _don't let them take you, don't let them take you! _

I would fight until either he had no choice but to kill me, or he was as dead as he should have been already. The only weapons I had were those I made, and there was little available material. Even the plate my food came on was plastic; since I had tried to slit my wrists with jagged pieces of china on my second day in captivity.

But I had a water bottle, and my earrings. The mind can offer amazing clarity when it knows it's body is in peril. I bent the earring into the best needle shape I could, and stabbed into the area I knew my implant was in, it took some wiggling around, but I got the thing out, and dropped it into the bottle of water, shaking it until I heard the cellar door fly off it's hinges.

"Hello there." He was British, the vampire who was going to release me from my torment. "You must be the little girl with the big secret." I said nothing, waiting for him to come closer. "Poor little thing, what have they done to you?" He paused, but I kept my silence. In the low lighting I couldn't see much, just the white of his eyes, and his perfect teeth when he smiled. "They said you didn't know anything, but then they don't know about these, do they?" He held up one of the implants. "I got it off your dear mother, before I ran her through with her own stake." I didn't scream, though I wanted to, I focussed my rage and threw a splash of vervain over him. As he cried out, shrinking away, I made a dash for the stairs.

My objective was more pressing than ever, if my mother was truly dead (which I refused to believe) then my sister was alone in the world, and I would... I could not... allow that. On the floor of the room I found myself in, were the bodies of my tormentors, and right there, in the heart of one, was a stake. I wrenched it out, my plan already formed.

Vampires can be very predictable, they love to showcase their supernatural speed, and they have a habit of playing with their food. If he lived up to expectations, the one hunting me would 'catch' me just as I reached the door, which was perfect. If he didn't, I would be dead.

He did, and I thrust my stake straight through his heart. I felt warm blood cover my hand as he fell forward, knocking me to the ground with him. I let his body down, as gently as I could, some superstitious part of me refusing to drop it like litter, and forced myself to my feet. As soon as I felt sunlight hit my face I allowed myself to take my first easy breath.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I knew it was already early evening, and I had to be somewhere safe before night fell, so I moved as quickly as my bad knee would allow. I had been kept in was an abandoned farm house, directly in the middle of God only knew where, and there didn't appear to be a person in sight. I fell, picked myself back up, and a few steps later, fell again. Fear for my family, the slowly darkening sky and bitter determination kept me moving.

The dog came from nowhere, jumping at me and barking in, what was I'm sure, a friendly manner. But it terrified me, I fell back, just catching a scream in my throat. "Down boy! You alright there love? Sorry about that, we don't usually see people out here. Probably because this is private property, what _are _you doing here?" A man in his late 50s, with a weather beaten face and a home made walking stick was speaking to me, I just shook my head, letting it rest back against the ground. The dog began to lick the blood off my neck, I had no energy left to push him away.

"You alright down there?" He flicked on a torch, and drew in breath. "My God! What happened?" I couldn't find it in me to answer, luckily he didn't require one. "Come on, let's get you somewhere warm." He placed the walking stick in the mouth of the dog, and used surprising strength to lift me up.

When my vision next came into focus, I was lying on a sofa, with a beautiful woman pressing a cloth to my neck. The man who'd carried me was pacing, on the phone. "I don't know what happened, but she's in a bad way. Well tell them to hurry." He put the phone down. "They'll be here as fast as they can, how's she doing?" The woman looked away from me, towards the man I could only assume to be her husband. "She's awake."

"Can you tell us anything? You're name?" She spoke so gently, and her eyes creased in a sad smile, I took in a deep breath. "My name's Christie."  
"What a lovely name, I'm Freya, and this is my husband, Gerry." She looked younger than Gerry, early middle age, but something about them seemed to suit very well. "What happened to you my love?" I shook my head, the idea of explaining (or thinking up a good lie) too difficult to comprehend. "Well, that can wait for the paramedics. Is there anyone I can call for you?" The memory of the vampire hissing, _"Before I ran her through..." _came crashing back to me, and I sat up with such speed they both jumped.

"Yes, yes, my mother! Please, can I have the phone?" Gerry handed it to me without a word. I dialled the number, fingers shaking. **"Hello?" **A male voice answered, one I knew only too well. Our babysitter, Jake. "Jake? Is my mum there?"  
"**Christie? Oh my God! Where are you? Are you okay?" **  
"Jake! My mum, is she there?"  
**"No, I'm so sorry Christie..." **My world swam in front of my eyes, she was dead, that... that couldn't be... **"She's in the hospital."  
**"What? Thank Christ!"  
**"Um... did you hear me Chris?"  
**"Yes yes, I heard. What happened?"  
**"Nobody's sure, I found her, I came over to take Rosie to school, and she was on the floor. They said, at the hospital, that she was stabbed. With a wooden stake. I don't know why, home invasion or something."  
**"And Rosie, she's okay?"  
**"She's fine. I've got her over at my house, we'll look after her for as long as your mum needs to get better. Christie, where the hell are you? Everyone's so worried, we thought you'd been kidnapped or something..."  
**"I was. I'll be home soon. Thank you Jake, thank you so much."  
**"Chris..." **But I had put the phone down.

"Everything okay?" Freya asked, as I handed the phone back to Gerry. I nodded, letting myself fall back into the sofa, "I'm so sorry, about all of this... I... I'll explain everything..." _But not right now_, was all I wanted to say, Freya said it for me. "There'll be time for all that later. Rest now, the paramedics are minutes away."

I vaguely recall being lifted onto a stretcher, and hearing Freya saying she would ride with me. She took my hand when they started prodding at my wrist, and I squeezed it when they started sticking needles in me. "_Count back from 10..._" Then nothing. Not until I woke in a hospital, sunlight streaming in through an open window.

"Christie?" I opened my eyes blearily, Freya was sitting by the bed.  
"Hi."  
"Good morning darling. I'm so glad you're awake, how do you feel?"  
"Better, nothing hurts."  
"They gave you a lot of morphine, they said you were in bad shape. You have a fractured wrist, a dislocated knee, a cut in your upper arm, and massive blood loss from your neck."  
"Yeah, that sounds right."  
"What happened to you?" She sounded so sad, and worried, and kind; I sat upright, trying to think quickly. "Well, I don't really know. They must have mistaken me for someone else, I think it was about some stolen jewelry or something, they kept asking me questions, but I didn't know what they were talking about, so they... well..."  
"What kind of sick people would do that to a little girl?"  
"I'm not that little." She reached over and brushed hair off my face,  
"You look little to me." I was almost 18, and already 5'9'', but hey, I probably looked younger all covered in blood and dirt.

"I bought coffee." Gerry entered the hospital room, and I smiled at him. "You're awake!"  
"I am."  
"Coffee?" He offered me his, but I shook my head.  
"Gerry! I don't think she should be eating or drinking anything without the doctor's permission." A bickering couple, something I missed. "I should go and fetch the doctor actually, tell her you're awake." She left me and Gerry to talk for a minute, and when she returned she was accompanied by a woman. "Hi there Christie, I'm doctor Meredith Fell."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Dr Fell was very nice, but she worried too much, all I wanted was to get up and out of the hospital, get home, but she kept telling me it was important I rested. "I need to get back to Richmond, my family need me. My mother's in the hospital."  
"So are you!"  
"Please Dr Fell, I'll be in **a **hospital, they can take care of me."  
"You are not well enough to travel yet, give it a few more days."  
"Dr Fell..."  
"Goodnight Christie." I had refused to give my last name, or any details of my family, save the city we lived in; it was a security measure, just in case any of my captors had escaped the wrath of the vampire I'd staked.

Freya and Gerry came to visit every day, but at night I was alone, which was perfect. Dr Fell and her worrying would have to deal, I was getting out of there. First I left a thank you note to the dear old couple.

_Freya & Gerry,_

_ I will never be able to properly thank you for your help and kindness. But I would like you to know how much I appreciate it. Things are complicated ( I think you know that), so I can't leave my address or number, but one day I might just show up on your doorstep with a bunch of flowers. _

_ Thanks again, and all my good wishes;  
Christie. xxx _

Walking out of the hospital, on stolen crutches, wearing only the dirty shorts and T-shirt I had come in, I met someone in the car park. Something about his manner made my heart jump into my throat, it just screamed Vampire. I kept my head down, in the hope he wouldn't notice me. "Hey, where are you going?" I looked up, meeting green eyes, that had the slight crinkle of a kind smile. "Home."  
"Right, you must be the girl Dr Fell keeps talking about. She says you're in no fit state to go anywhere." And in no fit state to run.  
"Wrong person, I was discharged today."  
"At two in the morning?" He walked closer.  
"Yes." He nodded slowly, half smiling,  
"Fair enough. Here, you're going to get cold on your way home." He shrugged off a dark navy jacket and handed it to me. "I... are you sure?" He nodded, then dug into a pocket,  
"And take this." It was a handful of bills.  
"I can't."  
"Christie isn't it?" I nodded, guard going back up. "Those bite marks on your neck aren't healing up so well." I took an awkward step away, the crutches scraping against the concrete, but he raised his hands, in the universal gesture for; _I mean you no harm_. "Take it as an apology on behalf of my kind."  
"So you are a vampire?" He nodded,  
"My name's Stefan Salvatore, get home safe Christie." I nodded, but didn't move.  
"Stefan, thank you for this, but I'd also love it if you'd do me one more favour, and walk away first." Never turn your back on a vampire, if you could help it. He smiled properly, and in a flash he was gone, the hospital door swinging closed behind him.

I did get home safe, marvelling at my luck in meeting a vampire who _didn't _want to drain or torture me. Honestly, I hadn't even thought they existed. When my father was killed, me and my mother had been thrown into a world of supernatural creatures we would never have believed existed. And soon enough, we were hunting them. Vampires, werewolves, witches, and anything in between. Did I sometimes question whether it was right? To kill werewolves, slaves to their condition? I don't know... I wondered, but my mother was so insistent that it was for the greater good...I never questioned that deeply.

Then a few months ago I had started having dreams. Vivid nightmares about things I couldn't possibly have known about, but would always see on the news in the next few days. It got worse, things flying off shelves in true Carrie style, winds whipping up when I got angry, and my suspicions turned to certainties. I was a witch. I was what we hunted.

I learnt to suppress it, with regular meditation and illegally obtained antipsychotics. Did my inherent magical abilities make me evil? I didn't know, but I knew what my mother would have thought, and our family had suffered enough. So I kept them under wraps, somehow hiding it from her and anyone else who might wonder. Luckily I didn't have any friends to worry about, save maybe Jake, but I kept him at a distance, I had to.

I got home in the early afternoon of the next day, after a few hours sleeping on a bench, and a long bus journey. It was a saturday, I assumed Rosie would be a Jake's house, his parents both worked, and their car wasn't in, but that was perfect for me, it meant less questions to dodge.

I knocked, and heard a call of, _"Come in." _So I did, and made my way to the sitting room, I saw him on the sofa, and smiled widely. "Christie, run!" The look of panic in his eyes made my stomach drop to my knees. "No, don't." I recognised the British accent immediately, but before I could run, the door swung shut, revealing a sight from my nightmares; on the other sofa sat the vampire and in his lap sat my little sister. He smiled, and there was murder in his eyes.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I thought I killed you."  
"Oh! She speaks!" He laughed aloud, but it was humourless. He lifted my sister from his lap, putting her back on the sofa, Jake stood, moving quickly to scoop her up, but she struggled away from him, "Chrissy!" She ran to me, I pushed her away, not taking my eyes from the vampire.  
"Go back to Jake Rosie." She did, looking confused, but not scared, not yet.  
"Let them go. You want me."  
"I do, but I also want you to suffer, and this... well... this is perfect."  
"She's just a little girl." I tried to keep my voice regulated, but it was shaking with suppressed rage.  
"Yes, such a pretty little thing... what do you think she'd look like as a vampire?" I shuddered.  
"Don't even... just let them go. Please."  
"Oh it's please now, last time it was a stake to heart. All I wanted was a chat love."  
"You can have a chat now, nice and civilised, just let them go."

He cocked his head to the side, pretending to deliberate, "Well... no. That time has passed, I think we're going to have to go in for the old fashioned blood and gore."  
"Chrissy! Where's mummy? Why were you gone?" Rosie didn't understand the danger we were in, but she could sense something was wrong, she would never have interrupted a grownup conversation otherwise. "Come here darling." He made a gesture at her,  
"Don't Rosie!" I yelled, and Jake held her fast, but the vampire looked back at me.  
"Come here, little Rose, or I'll take you from the boy's cold, dead, arms." He was talking to her, but looking at me. Rosie looked between us, confusion in her beautiful blue eyes. I hated it, but she was safest if we did as he asked. "Let her go Jake."  
"Chris..."  
"Do it." He nodded, letting her go to the vampire. He smiled at me, he'd won his sick little game.

He swung her into his arms, like a big brother, grinning. "Do you know who I am little Rose?"  
"No."  
"I'm a friend of your sister's, my name's Kol."  
"That's a nice name. We had a black cat called Cole, before we moved house."  
"Did you now? And why did you move house?"  
"Because Daddy died." Tears of frustration and grief were welling up behind my eyes, but I forced them down. "What a shame, how did he die?"  
"A monster killed him." We had told her so many times it was a robber, but she had seen a glimpse of the murderer in his true form, and she knew. "What kind of monster?"  
"I don't know. A bad one."  
"Are there are good monsters?"  
"The Gruffalo's a good monster." A single, rebellious tear fell.  
"Yes he is. But the one who killed your daddy wasn't a Gruffalo was he?" She shook her head, "Was he a monster like me?" In a flash his face changed, revealing the truth behind the human mask, Rosie screamed, and I ran forward, trying to pull her from his grasp. "Leave her alone!" He stepped back too quickly for me, I put weight on my bad leg and fell. Rosie kept crying, then there was something, a noise like a humming in the back of my mind. The vampire called Kol collapsed. Jake was standing behind him, one hand out, nose bleeding. When the vampire collapsed he had managed to fall so Rosie was against him, and not hurt – accidentally I assumed, I reached out to her and she crawled off him, throwing her arms around me, sobbing.

"What was that?" I asked Jake over her head, he shrugged;  
"Doesn't matter. Come on," He helped me up, and we made our way from the house as quickly as we could. "Can you drive?" He asked,  
"Not today." I gestured at the crutches, he nodded,  
"I've had a few lessons."  
"We don't have a car." He ignored that, going straight to the door of a neighbour's car, and pressed a hand against the lock. It popped, and he opened it. "Hop in." I didn't argue.

We were speeding towards the highway, Rosie and me in the back, crutches on the floor. "You're a witch, aren't you?" He nodded,  
"So are you."  
"How did you know?" He looked over his shoulder,  
"Takes one to know one I guess. I thought we could be friends, but you didn't seem to warm to me." I had always been cold towards him, but it was just my way, I was afraid of making friends, and more afraid of them getting close. "I thought it was because I was gay."  
"What? No, I didn't even know..."  
"I know that now, I know about your mum."  
"What do you mean?"  
"She's a hunter, so are you. You hunt... us. Supernaturals."  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
"That's messed up."  
"They killed my dad!"  
"Vampires. Not witches. Not werewolves. Killing innocents, even if they're supernaturals, it's wrong Christie." He sounded severe, and I felt my face warming up.  
"You don't get it."  
"Yeah, I do. Why do you think I'm helping you?"  
"Actually, I don't know."  
"Because I hate vampires as much as you do. They killed someone close to me."  
"Who?"  
"Bree, she was the witch who trained me."  
"I'm sorry."

We stayed quiet for a while, Rosie slept, and I tried to. "Are you alright to stay here for the night?" He was pulling into a motel, I nodded. The manager didn't look happy about the two teenagers and the child, but a fifty swayed him. Stefan had given me a lot of money. I told Jake about him, and his kindness. "Stefan Salvatore?"  
"Yes, did you know him?"  
"By reputation, they called him the Ripper." I didn't know what to say to that, but Jake continued, "I did hear he turned over a new leaf, went vegetarian."  
"Vegetarian?"  
"Figuratively, he only drinks animal blood."  
"Seriously? Are there vampire like that?"  
"Not many. It was brother who killed Bree actually." He was concentrating hard, trying to spell the room against vampires. I noticed a slight tremor in his hands, and I wasn't sure if it was from grief, anger, or exhaustion – he'd already worn himself when he'd knocked Kol unconscious. If he was anything like me, it was probably all three.

I tucked Rosie in, and stood up, limping to his side. "Jake," I put a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged me off. "It's fine, I don't judge people on their family, otherwise I wouldn't be here, would I?"  
"What do you mean?" He finished the window, and took a break before starting on the door,  
"Your mum's a psycho. No offence, but seriously, when I found her, I tried to heal her with magic, and she almost killed herself trying to get away."  
"Really?" He nodded, moving to the door, shaking his hands out. I wanted to help, but the idea of embracing magic was too much to get my head around.

With sudden force, the door was thrown open, Jake was knocked off his feet, unconscious, and three people walked through. One of them I recognised. "Little witchy's out for the count, grab him." He directed on of the vampires with him. The other went straight for the sleeping Rosie, she opened her eyes, startled, but he put her to sleep with a few words. We hadn't given her a vervain implant, we never thought she'd need one. We were supposed to be protecting her from all that.

Kol picked up one of my crutches, weighing it in his hand, "Aluminium really is fantastic." Then he hit me with it; hard enough to knock me to the ground, but I knew that was nothing on what he could do. A moment later he was standing over me, holding out a hand. "Come quietly love, there's a good girl." I looked over at where one vampire held my sister, and the other had Jake flung over his shoulder. Ignoring Kol's hand I got to my feet. He caught me under the arm, dragging me from the room, I stifled a cry of pain as my leg jarred.

The man at the front desk made no comment as we left, looking behind me I realised it was because he no longer had a throat. "You killed him? Why?! You could just have compelled him!"  
"Where's the fun in that?" He threw me into the back of a car, slamming the door. Jake's forehead was bleeding, but he was coming around, Rosie wasn't in the car with us.

"Where's my sister?" I shouted to him, struggling forward, he knocked me back against the seat, "Don't you know how dangerous it is to distract a driver?"  
"Where's my sister you undead son of a bitch?!" I screamed, discarding self-control. He seemed amused by my outburst, "She's in the other car, don't worry, you'll see her again... if you behave. Now sit back, and shut up." I did so, dabbing at Jake's forehead with my T-shirt. "You could just let them out, leave them on the side of the road. It's me you want." The car screeched to a halt, throwing up dust as it went off road, seconds later the door was open and I was being dragged out again. I felt my back hit the metal as Kol's hand wrapped around my throat.

"And I would have taken you, but you threw vervain over me, and then you staked me. I would have taken you again, but your little friend used his voodoo on me (and may I say, I still have a headache), so you know; you've had your chances. Now you're going to pay."  
"So make me pay, torture me, kill me, I don't care. Just let Rosie go, she's 6 years..." He shook his head in disbelief. "Well, you're nothing if not tenacious. Heed my words little girl; I'll let your sister live, _if_ you play nice from now on. And keep you witch tethered." He released me from the chokehold and opened the door, ushering me in like a gentleman.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Me and Jake were chained to a wall, they had given Jake something to keep him under, so he couldn't interfere with any witchcraft, but I was left to witness. It had begun with the usual questions, "Where is the Jade?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Insert unpleasantness here,  
"Tell me if you want to live."  
"I don't know." Insert unpleasantness, and etc... Then Rosie had woken from the compulsion induced slumber. Fear gnawed at my stomach. I couldn't let them hurt my sister, but telling them the truth about the Jade would give them the kind of power no vampire – no person – should have.

The vampire who had taken her in the first place lifted her up, smiling, "Such a pretty little girl." His fingers trailed over her cheek, and I wanted to cut them off. "What should we do with her?" Kol was watching him, when he spoke it was deceptively quiet. "Give her to me." The man seemed reluctant to hand her over, "Give her to me _now_ Mick."  
"Why should I?"  
"She's not your plaything."  
"So she's yours?"  
"Since I'm in charge here, yes."  
"Who says you're in charge?" The other vampire came to stand by him, echoing him like an imbecile; "Yeah, who says?"  
"I say! And since I'm centuries older than either of you, I suggest you do as I say." He took a calming breath, "Now, give me the child."  
"No." There was something about the vampire, Mick, which made me want to side with Kol, he had scared Rosie, but to get to me. The way Mick's hands rested on her made my skin crawl.

In a blink Kol was in front of them, his voice a low whisper, "Hand her over mate, before things get unpleasant." Another blink, and the vampire who seemed to be siding with Mick was behind him, I cried out a warning, but it was too late. A syringe disappeared into Kol's neck, and he sunk to the ground. "Dick head, finks he's better than us."  
"Thanks Freddie." Mick had to put my sister down so he could assist in the tying up of Kol, which I was thankful for. They used ropes dipped in vervain to tie his arms, and shackled his feet. "Shouldn't we just kill 'im?" Freddie was a bit thick, that was already clear.  
"Nah, he knows more about this Jade myth than he's been letting on. We can get it out of him, then we can kill him." Fantastic.

Rosie was watching the events unfolding with a kind of glazed look that scared me, I had heard about children in abusive situations shutting down – maybe that was what she was doing, to cope. Mick went to sit next to her when they were done, trailing his hands through her hair. I felt rage building, tremors began to wrack my hands. "Leave her alone, you sick fuck." He smiled at me, saying nothing, but pulling her onto his lap. "Let's have a nice chat, while we wait for Kol to wake up."  
"Oh do let's." I hissed, hatefully.

His hands were on her shoulders, I could feel the tremors going up my spine; then it dawned on me. I was trying to hold it back, to keep it inside, like I had been for the last few months, but if ever there was a time to let rip with my magic, it was now. I closed my eyes, he was speaking again, but the words washed over me. I was focussing on the power burning through my veins, to the exclusion of all else. Something in the room changed. The vampires began to shout, one of them must have struck me, but all that did was make me angrier. My eyes snapped open, and I caught Freddie in my sights – he was thrown back against the wall, like a rag doll, and lay still. I turned my gaze on Mick, he held my sister in front of him, like a human shield. But I was out of control. He was flung back as well, and somehow Rosie stayed where she was, suspended in the air. I let her drop to the ground carefully, the energy coursing through me subsiding as quickly as it had come.

I fell against the wall, exhausted. "Chrissy?"  
"It's going to be okay Rosie, I'm going to get us out of here." My eyes opened, focussing on her, I smiled. "I need you to be brave for me, okay?" She nodded. "Good girl. Okay, now you have to..." I had no idea what she had to do, I was shackled up, Jake was unconscious, and Kol was tied with ropes far above her height. "Rosie, listen carefully. You need to go up those stairs, and find the door. Then you need to run, as fast as you can, until you find a grown up. When you find them, you tell them to take you to West Hospital, because that's where your mummy is."  
"I don't want to..."  
"Rosie. You do as I say, okay? You find an adult, and tell them to take you to West Hospital. You don't tell them where you came from, do you understand? You mustn't tell them where we are, because if you do, these bad people will **kill **them, they will kill them dead. Okay?" She nodded, tears beginning to fall. "Come here, and give me a kiss." She did, then I used what leverage I had with my hands shackled to push her towards the door, "Now go, run, as fast as you can." And with a last look back, she did.

I sunk back against the wall, letting my own tears fall. "What happened?" Kol's voice, thick with pain, but still decidedly British, made me jump. I quickly wiped away the tears.  
"Jake woke up and knocked them out, the effort was too much, he collapsed again." I lied smoothly, hoping my heartbeat wouldn't give me away, Kol didn't seem to question it. "Where's your sister?"  
"I told her to run. Someone will take her to my mum." I hoped. He nodded, pulling against the ropes, I could see them burning into the skin of his wrists. "I didn't realise Mick was a nonce."  
"What?" I snapped, looking up at him, trying to fight my roiling anger, I hated him, but I hated Mick more, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend... or something. "Nonce, it means... someone who likes little girls... or boys for that matter."  
"Sick bastard." I supplied.  
"Precisely." He wrenched on the ropes, but it did nothing.

"I can't believe I let this happen. I'm out of practice."  
"Why did you have to take her?" I asked suddenly, unable to restrain myself, "She should never have been involved in this world."  
"Well, if you had just come with me in the first place..." He sounded defensive, I laughed bitterly.  
"Oh I am so sorry, I had been kept in a cellar for a week, tortured, deprived of food, drained of blood, thrown down stairs and otherwise mistreated; so when I found myself face to face with a man who claimed to have killed my mother, my first thought was _obviously _going to be 'this is the guy to trust, let him take you somewhere nice and secluded.' Hardly. I did what I had to." He said nothing, but he gave me a look I didn't like. It wasn't angry, more like appraising, and it made me feel uncomfortable.

Freddie was stirring, "What 'appened?" He asked,  
"Jake woke up and knocked you out." I said it quickly, hoping to plant the idea in a confused and simple mind. "Oh... is Mick dead?"  
"Hopefully." But he wasn't, I had hit him harder with the spell though, it seemed to be keeping him down. "You're awake." Freddie pointed out, looking at Kol.  
"Well spotted." His voice was dripping with sarcasm, and laced with venom.  
"I'm gonna get the information out of you, 'bout the Jade."  
"Well, you're going to try." He managed to keep his expression schooled while Freddie lit up a blow torch. "Well, that looks like fun." Some light was burning in the idiot vampire's previously dull eyes,  
"Yeah, it is gonna be fun." A _nonce _and a sadist, he really could pick friends.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I thought I'd probably quit enjoy watching Kol suffer, since he had staked my mother, and kidnapped myself, my friend, and my sister, but seeing his face twist in pain, while Freddie grinned, made my stomach turn. Freddie had stripped his shirt off and was preceding to mutilate him; he had cut his wrists, so he bled out, which meant the burns and cuts he made didn't heal like they usually would. It was a smart move, for an idiot. "What do you know?"  
"Know about what?" Freddie's forehead crinkled in thought,  
"Er... the Jade?"  
"It's a kind of gemstone, green, the birthstone for the month of March. It's also a woman's name."  
"No... what do you know about _the _Jade?"  
"I haven't a clue, sorry darling." He smiled, and Freddie's stupid expression twisted into anger, he dug two fingers into a deep burn on Kol's stomach, not relenting until he screamed. "I'm gonna get the vervain." While Kol was trying to get his breath back, I saw an opening.

The perpetually stupid Freddie had left the blow torch on the ground when he stomped off to find the vervain store. I reached out with a foot, inch by inch getting closer, until I finally hooked it over to me. I switched it on, and started on my chains, it heated to beyond comfortable, but I ignored the pain, holding the flame close until I could break the link which connected the chain to the shackle. I didn't have time to do the same to the ones on my feet, so I stood up and threw myself forward, catching myself on Kol.

"I must say, I've felt the burning sexual tension as well love, but is this really the time?" I pulled back enough to punch him, a bad part of me was satisfied when I felt his nose crunch. I reached up, using one hand to steady myself on his shoulder, and started trying to undo the vervain ropes. I heard Kol whisper, "He's coming back, leave it."  
"I'm almost there."  
"Oh I'm sure..."  
"I am amazed you can think of innuendos right now."  
"Humour's my coping mechanism, now get down, before he sees and rips your throat out." I ignored him, feeling the knot slip in my fingers. Before I could completely free him, Kol manoeuvred a shoulder to shove me down. The wind was knocked out of me, but it was just in time, Freddie came through the door as I settled into my original position.

He dripped the vervain over Kol's chest, eliciting more cries of pain. But I saw his hands working on the loosened knots, while Freddie attention was focussed on the vervain. He looked behind him, at Mick, who seemed to be waking as well, without a thought, he threw a few drops of vervain over the unconscious vampire, they hissed on his skin, jerking him to alertness. "Wake up Mick, we're having fun." While his back was turned, Kol had got himself free. He tapped Freddie on the shoulder, who turned, confused. "Oops." Kol grinned, then plunged his hand into the vampire's chest. One sharp pull and it was out again, holding a bloody organ.

"My brother showed me that one." He grinned like a wolf, looking at me; like I should be impressed. Mick had taken the initiative, he grabbed me by the hair, and pulled my head back until my throat was exposed. "I'll kill her."  
"No, you won't." I was pulled from Mick's grasp, and there was another horrible, squelching sound. Kol let me go, but carefully, making sure I didn't jar my leg as I put one hand against the wall. "Now then," He pulled the chains around his ankles out of the ground, like a weed, and did the same with mine, breaking the shackles off my wrists. I almost said thank you, but I could feel the blood from his hands congealing on my skin.

I glanced down at Jake, still unconscious; then looked back at Kol. The mutual enemies were dead, it was back to us and our face off. "Let Jake go."  
"Why should I?"  
"Because I'll go quietly, if you do."  
"Go quietly, but not cooperate?"  
"That too." I lied, he would get nothing from me. I had survived a week of torture, I would endure.  
"Alright then, since you've already proven to be such an irritant when you want to be, why not?" He bent down, and pulled Jake's chains away. I knelt by my friend.

"Um?" His eyes opened, but he looked dazed, "What happened?"  
"No time. Jake, go to West Richmond Hospital, my mum and Rosie will be there." Please God let that be true. "Okay?"  
"I... yes...wait." He reached out to grab me before I could go to the door, where Kol waited. "Don't go with him."  
"I have to."  
"No, Christie..."  
"It's okay, he's promised me my safety." I smiled, lying through my teeth. Jake grabbed me again, pulling me close, he whispered, voice hoarse, "Don't forget, you're strong, use it..." I knew what he meant, and I nodded. "I will. Find Rosie and my mum, goodbye Jake."

Kol was standing in the moonlight, still shirtless, wounds still not healing, he smiled as I came closer. "Ready?" I nodded. "Good." Without so much as a by-your-leave, he pulled me into a deadly embrace, and sunk his teeth into my neck. I cried out, but it was cut off by his hand clamped over my mouth. When he had done with me, he bit into his own wrist, I tried to escape the blood, but he was a lot stronger than I. "Drink it!" It almost made me wretch, but the unpleasantness didn't last long, I felt myself fall into unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

I woke in a hotel room, floor length red drapes obscured my vision of the sky, but there was enough light to show me I had not slept alone. I sat up, careful not to wake the vampire sleeping next to me, then tried to stand, keeping the weight off my leg – but there was no pain. Looking down I realised I had no cast around my wrist anymore either. The vampire blood, of course.

Kol remained still in the bed, so I decided to make the most of my time alone. The bathroom was ridiculous, but also fabulous. I had a long shower, feeling very nearly human when I got out, wrapped in a huge, fluffy towel. I sat on the edge of the bath, just breathing for a while. Trying to remember meditation techniques. Letting my magic in seemed to have made it stronger, it was fighting back, throwing itself against my mental barriers; I could feel them cracking.

"Do let me in love, I need a shower." I ignored him, petulantly. I would have let him in, had he asked again, but he didn't. He broke the door. I jumped up, "Jesus Christ!"  
"I don't like to be kept waiting." He had a towel wrapped around his waist, the cuts and burns were all healed, but the blood remained. "Thanks for the donation." He ducked towards my neck, lips brushing over it, I did what any sensible girl would do in that situation, I grabbed the nearest heavy object and broke it on his face. It was a china soap dish, as it happens.

Blood was running into his eyes, but the cut had healed almost as soon as it had appeared. "If you're going to kill me, kill me. But _don't_ make the mistake of thinking I'm your plaything." I was on the floor before I could breathe. His weight keeping me down, one hand wrapped loosely around my throat. His fangs were on full view, and his eyes had the red glint of an out of control vampire.

"You speak of death like you know something about it. You. Know. Nothing. You're just an ignorant little girl. If you _really _knew what death was like, you would not be so quick to embrace it. You'd a thousand times rather be my _plaything _than you would face the great abyss. Because that's all it is, little girl, just darkness and silence, and _nothing _else." This time, when his lips brushed against my neck, there was the razor edge of fangs following them. "You would let me do anythingI liked with you, just for one more day on this Earth." Tears were burning my cheeks; fear and frustration and hatred given form.

"I'm only going to say this once, my pretty little thing, I have always been impulsive, so **don't **push me, because as useful as you might be, and as pretty as you are, I _will _bleed you dry, and I won't loose a moment's sleep over it. Do you understand?" I nodded, refusing to look him in the eye, he grabbed my chin, forcing me. "So, you're finally afraid of me?" I should just have said yes.  
"This isn't fear, it's disgust."  
"_Disgust... _you are quite unbelievable."  
"And you're a spoilt child, prodding a stranded jellyfish, just for the sport." My voice was choked, but I couldn't seem to stop talking. "You know," His voice was low and thoughtful, "I think I'll just kill you." For the second time in so many hours he bit me. I felt the blood being drawn out of me, and my vision started to swim; the knowledge I was about to die terrified me, but the weakest part of me said it was okay; I'd see my father again – and these horrible games would be over. He stopped before I blacked out, pulling away and catching a drop of blood on his chin.

He let me up, smiling such a cold smile, "Let's try again that again, I'll start. Are you afraid of me yet?"  
"Yes." I stood, shakily, one hand holding my towel as best I could,the other gripping the sink for support. His voice stopped me before I could leave the bathroom. "I can heal you...?"  
"It's fine." I closed the door behind me, leaning against it, trying to regain my composure. I heard the shower go on, and found myself sinking to the floor, arms wrapped around legs, sobbing. I had thought he was the sort of unbalanced that just might kill you on a whim, but he wasn't as impulsive as he pretended, all of this was a game – and I wouldn't be released, nor killed, until he decided he had won. The knowledge that he was going to keep me alive scared me so much more than the idea of death.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

There was a pile of clothes on the end of the bed, jeans and a T-shirt, and... underwear. No, not underwear, lingerie; black, lacy lingerie. I violently stuffed the bra into my bag, deciding I'd rather go without than wear the damn thing – I wasn't a doll. He probably thought it was funny, I didn't find it so funny; it was humiliating, degrading – just another power trip.

I raked my fingers through my hair, glad it was so short or it would have been in terrible shape after the week I'd had. I cut it myself, after I had had to wash blood out of it one too many times. My mother told me she was glad I was taking our new life so seriously. Maybe that hadn't been the reaction I'd wanted, but it had helped me grow up a bit.

I didn't bother with any of it after that; no makeup, no high heels, no nice clothes. My life was school, hunting, meditating and looking after Rosie. I had to work harder than everyone else just to keep up, since I missed so much. The friends I'd had I lost, I think the only reason I wasn't bullied was because they all knew my dad had been violently murdered, and I had been a witness. I had a right to be messed up. Little did they know.

Kol came out of the bathroom, interrupting my reverie. "Are you hungry?" He threw himself onto the bed, still just wearing a towel, I looked away, nodding. "I'll call room service. What do you feel like, Oysters?" He was grinning suggestively. I shrugged, "Oh come on love, don't be cross with me. What do you want?"  
"Oysters are fine."  
"You're no fun." He ordered a platter of cold meats, vegetables, breads, cheeses and chocolate fondue with strawberries. While we were waiting for it to arrive he changed into jeans and shirt; the outfit was probably worth more than my entire wardrobe. I went to sit by the window, wishing to avoid any kind of conversation.

I turned at the knock on the door, Kol answered, and invited the woman with the trolley in. "Thank you love, now _keep still, and stay quiet._" I stepped forward, wanting to help the poor girl, but Kol shook his head, "I wouldn't." He could snap her neck like a twig, and I knew he would if I gave him a reason. I could only watch as he took too much blood, her eyes fluttered close. I turned away, partly trying to preserve her dignity, but mostly refusing to give him the satisfaction of an audience. With jerky movements I re-took my seat at the window, blocking out the scene behind me. I focussed on the city lights.

The thud of her body falling to the floor behind me almost made me turn, but managed to remain resolute in my vigil of the skyline. "Look at me!" When I didn't he grabbed my shoulders, pulling me upright and making me face him. He gestured behind, "I wouldn't have killed her, if you hadn't done that."  
"Liar." I couldn't stop myself.  
"What did you say?" I looked away from him, my eyes flicked over the girl's body, but I closed them quickly. "Nothing." He shook me, hard.  
"Where's the fight? Huh? Where did it go?"  
"It's gone, isn't that what you wanted?" His forehead creased.  
"I... I... what do _you_ want?"  
"To have dinner." I opened my eyes, they were swimming with tears and I knew it, but I held his gaze anyway. "You want to have dinner? With her on the floor?"  
"She's dead, she won't mind." I hated myself for my callous words, but they were meant to provoke a reaction; I wasn't sure if I'd like it.

He let me go, "I know what you want."  
"What do I want?"  
"You want me to save her."  
"She's dead."  
"Not yet."  
"Then yes, I'd want you to save her." _But I know you won't._ He blurred to her side, biting into his wrist and dripping blood into her mouth. I expected him to break her neck at any moment, some cruel trick, because we both knew I'd rather he let her die than turn her into a vampire. But he didn't. When she sat up, he compelled her to forget, and to go back to work.

"All you had to do was say so love." I nodded, completely thrown. The mind games were beginning to get on top of me. He pulled out a chair and I took the seat, using a napkin to dab my eyes, I saw him watching with a frown.

**A/N **When I talk about Christie's short hair, I'm thinking Katy Perry in _Part of Me_.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Talk to me." It was an order, I sighed,  
"What do you want me to say?"  
"I don't know, tell me about yourself. How old are you?"  
"Seventeen."  
"When's your birthday?"  
"The 1st of March."  
"What do you do, in your spare time?"  
"I kill supernatural creatures with my mother."  
"You're not making this easy you know." I put down the piece of bread I had been trying to eat,  
"I'm sorry, I'll try harder." With a clatter the trolley of food was upturned. I flinched, "Get up." I did so, not looking him in the eye. I expected more violence, but his voice was deceptively gentle when he spoke again. "Come on Christie, don't be angry with me. I didn't mean to hurt you," His fingers brushed over the bite marks on my neck, "I could heal them, if you want." I shook my head, finally looking him in the eye.

"Kol," I caught the hand brushing over my neck, and tried a new tactic, "Stop this, please. You're a vampire, I get it, you kill. But you don't need to do _this_, it's just... cruel." My hand still held his, and he gripped it, animated suddenly. "But it's not! I just want to talk to you, to get to know you. I'm sorry about before, I thought... I don't know..."  
"Tell me." The words were out before I could stop them,  
"What?"  
"Tell me what you thought? Maybe if I understand why you behave like this I can forgive you." I was lying, but if it kept him occupied, and bought me a few moments of calm, it would be worth it.

"I..." He pulled on my hand, going to sit on the bed, I followed without resistance. "My family, we're..." The words seemed so hard to get out, almost painful. "Dysfunctional." He settled on. "And _this _is what we do, we play at who can be the bigger bad guy, we destroy each other's lives, kill each other's lovers, sometimes kill those **we **love, so they can't. And it's all just so we don't end up alone, so we have no one to go back to; no one but each other.

"Maybe 900 years of that skewed my judgment a bit. You want to know what I thought, what I honestly thought, when I had you pinned to the bathroom floor, while I was draining you of blood, killing that girl just to hurt you?" Did I? I nodded, "I thought we were playing." I looked at him, but this time it was he wouldn't catch my eye. With I sigh I looked back down into my lap, where he still held my hand.

"I'll take you to the hospital in Richmond, you can see your mother, and your sister. And the boy Jake." His voice was low, full of an unnamed emotion.  
"I'd like to see them, to say goodbye, before... whatever's going to happen next." He twisted to face me, "Nothing's happening next. You can go home. Screw Elijah and his Jade myth, I'll tell him you angered me and I killed you. He won't question it."  
"You're going to let me go?" I wasn't gullible enough to start hoping yet.  
"Yes. Come on, I'll get them to bring the car around." He stood, pulling me up behind him.

The car was waiting outside, he opened the passenger door for me, ushering me in like he had once before, this time I thanked him. We had been driving in silence for a while, when I decided to ask the burning question. "You said 900 years, are you really 900 years old?"  
"Yes. We were the first, the very first vampires ever created."  
"How?"  
"My mother was a witch, like your boyfriend, but a very powerful one, she gave us the gift of immortality; to protect us from a greater evil."  
"What greater evil? And Jake's not my boyfriend, just a friend. He's gay actually." I saw a grin flash over Kol's lips, but ignored it. It struck me as strange I had even seen fit to correct him, but I pushed that thought aside. "That was illegal, when I was last in the world."  
"Being gay?" He nodded.  
"What do you mean 'in the world'? And what greater evil?"  
"So many questions."  
"You wanted me to talk." I was goading him again, but he laughed, properly, I could see the merriment dancing in his eyes.

"Have you come across werewolves?"  
"Yes, we've killed three." He nodded his approval.  
"Tough little thing, aren't you."  
"I'm really not that little!"  
"Oh, I hit a nerve." He laughed again, and I couldn't resist a smile. "Werewolves, well, they were a grave danger to us, they killed my little brother, Henrik. My mother had lost a baby before, when they still lived in Eastern Europe, she could not stand to lose a third child. So she performed a spell to make us strong. It did more than that, it made us what you see today."  
"She created the vampire race."  
"Yes, but she realised her mistake." The last words were muttered under his breath.  
"Should I ask?"  
"No."  
"Then tell me about being 'in the world'?"  
"You've heard the legend about staking a vampire, you have to leave the stake in their heart?"  
"Yes, it's not true, but I've heard it."  
"It comes from us, as do most vampire myths. There is a certain weapon (forgive me for not going into detail, I find myself enjoying your company, but I don't _trust _you), which can neutralize us, until it is removed. My brother _neutralized _me for near on a century, I only woke up a few months ago."  
"Dysfunctional's the watch word in your family."  
"Quite."

A few more moments of silence, then he seemed unable to allay his own curiosity. "Your own doesn't seem so _functional_."  
"What do you mean?" I didn't mean to snap, but he hit upon something I had been avoiding for nearly a year. "Your mother has you out hunting supernaturals creatures, at great peril to the both of you. You're barely into womanhood, in fact, by this century's standards you're still a child."  
"Our standards are wrong."  
"You haven't quite addressed the point love." I ran a hand through my hair, sighing.  
"Fine, maybe not quite as functional as we were. Ever since Dad was killed, I don't know, it's different. Mum was a mum, you know, she looked after us; now she's like a..." I searched for a word, "Drill Sargeant?"  
"I... yes, exactly. Like we're some kind of militia."  
"My father was the same. I remember a time I would play on his shoulders, rough and tumble with him and my brothers. When he realised the danger the wolves put us in, he changed. He became hard and cruel."  
"She's not cruel. But, she is hard. We never hug, or talk, it's just planning and executing. I have nightmares all the time..." I cut myself off sharply. She might be hard, but she was my mother, and this was a sociopath vampire.

"I killed my first person the night I was turned, and make no mistake, I loved it. The thrill of it, the blood, but (and I will rip your heart from your chest if you ever tell anyone this), I did shed tears. I couldn't reconcile my actions with my humanity, so in the end I just turned it off."  
"Turned it off?"  
"It's... not a switch, more like a big red button. If you hit it, all the guilt and pain and anger and fear goes away. All you feel is the joy of the hunt and the thrill of the kill."  
"Can you turn it back on?"  
"No. Someone has to do that for you." He was looking straight ahead, completely focussed on the road. I didn't take my eyes off his face.

It seemed to make him uncomfortable, so he changed the subject, "I could make your mother forget everything. She would just remember her husband dying in a robbery gone wrong, nothing supernatural, no more hunting?" I almost considered it, almost,  
"No. If I asked her she would say no, and no one has the right to make a decision like that on someone else's behalf."  
"I do it on a regular basis."  
"You're mistaking ability for right."  
"Is there a difference?" I thought for a moment,  
"Did your brother have the right to put you down for a century?"  
"No!"  
"But he clearly had the ability. I don't know what the difference is _exactly_, but there is one."  
"You're very wise for one so young."  
"And you're an idiot for one so old." He looked over at me, but he wasn't angry. I smiled back.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

He walked me into the hospital, right up to the room my mother was in. "I'll leave you here, it's been a pleasure meeting you, Christie."  
"Christina, my full name is Christina."  
"A name almost as beautiful as you." Now he was just lying; I might have been pretty once, but I looked like a teenage boy these days. "I see you blushing." I was not!  
"Hardly." I brushed it off, never having been very good at dealing with flirtation. "Thank you for... you know, not killing me. Kol." He nodded, and before I could move, he had bent down to kiss my cheek. I heard a whisper of _goodbye_, and then he was gone. I didn't realise I had closed my eyes until I opened them.

"Mum?" It was almost 6am, and the sun was just rising, I could see it peeking through the curtains. I found myself hoping Kol would get back before it rose properly; then caught myself and stopped. My mother slept peacefully, she looked younger, like she had before Dad. It brought a sad smile to my face. She murmured, moving restlessly in her sleep, "Mum? It's Christie, I'm home." I touched her shoulder, and she started into wakefulness.  
"Christie? Christie! Oh my God! Are you real, or another dream?"  
"I'm real mum, I'm back." She reached out to pull me into a hug, I went gladly.  
"I was so worried, I thought you were dead, or worse..."  
"Everything's fine, I'm fine."  
"How did you... what happened?" She was crying, actually crying. I took a steadying breath,  
"There's no time for that. Have you seen Rosie, is she here?"  
"Yes, they bought her in earlier this evening, I sent her home with Jake."  
"Jake's okay too."  
"He's fine, why?"  
"I have a lot to tell you. And some of it you're not going to like."

I was right, as soon as I told about Jake, she was out of bed, planning on getting home to Rosie. "Mum, calm down. You'll hurt yourself. Mum..." I sighed, the resigned myself to the inevitable. "I'm a witch too!" She looked around, "What?" It came naturally, I raised a hand, and the curtains began to billow inwards as I commanded the wind to pick up. "My God..."  
"Yeah."  
"How long have you known?"  
"A few months, I was afraid to say anything, I'm sorry."  
"Can't you... not be?"  
"I was managing it, but when that sicko, Mick, was touching Rosie, I kind of snapped. It's flowing easier, now I've let it in."  
"Do you think you can get it back under control?"  
"I think it is under control. I feel better than I have in a long time. I'm not going to go back to pretending it doesn't exist, I don't think that's a good idea – it needs to have an outlet." She nodded, sitting back down on the bed. "How long have you known about Jake?"  
"Not until he knocked Kol out." I made a mental note to ask him about that spell.  
"Won't this be strange for you? Hunting your own kind?" The question threw me, but after a moment I knew my answer.

"No. I won't _be _killing my own kind, not anymore. We made a mistake mum, we branded all the creatures of the night as the same, but they're not. Look at Jake, look at me; and even Stefan Salvatore." I held a hand up before she could say anything, "I know one good action doesn't make a good man, but we shouldn't be too quick to judge. If you think about, we've been almost as bad as them, killing innocents. I know we didn't _realise _we were killing innocents, but still... it happened."  
"I'm sorry Christie, but I can't just forget what happened to your father; vampires did that. Maybe Witches aren't **all **evil, but vampires are, and werewolves too; they kill indiscriminately."  
"But not of their volition. 'An act done by me, against my will, is not my act.' Killing them, knowing that... it's wrong."  
"You've been away a week and you've gone native." Anger jumped to the surface before I could wrestle it down, and I said things I didn't mean to.

"I've been gone 10 days, and 7 of them were spent locked in cellar, being fed on and tortured by vampires. Probably because _you _decided to turn us into _slayers_! Don't tell me I've gone native Mum, I've just got some perspective, likely because I've been away from your influence for five minutes." She looked like I had slapped her, and guilt overwhelmed me. "I only meant..."  
"I know what you meant. And... you might be right. I need time Christie, let's just put this aside until we get home, okay?"  
"Sure."  
"So, tell me how you escaped, from creepy British vampire."  
"I didn't, he let me go. He's really not that creepy, more; crazy. Unbalanced, sadistic, psychopathic, impulsive, kind of funny, and really, really, sad." I found myself staring into the middle distance, her gaze made me shake myself out of it, "He attacked me a few times, but after we talked he decided to let me go. Oh, he mentioned someone called Elijah, I get the feeling _he's _the guy we've got to worry about, Kol sounded like he was reporting back to him."  
"Then we need to find him, and leave him with a stake through his heart."  
"I don't think stake's work on vampires like Kol."  
"What do you mean?"  
"This sounds insane, but I know I didn't miss, when I got him the first time – it went through his heart. He was telling me that he and his family are the Original family of vampires, I think different rules apply to them."  
"Then it sounds like we need a new arsenal."

"Not to put too fine a point on it Mum, but going after them, with any arsenal, would be bordering on stupidity. Kol said he was going to tell Elijah that he'd decided to kill me. Like I said, he's impulsive, Elijah will believe him, I'm safe, you're safe, Rosie's safe. All we need to do is keep a low profile for a while."

She wasn't keen on the idea, but my ordeal had given me new strength, and I kept pushing. Somehow, I won. Three months after the events had taken place, we were ready to move, somewhere nice and quiet, after the drama of the city. I picked the place, it was where I had met good people, and my first kind vampire. Mystic Falls.

**And so ends part one. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Do look up part two, titled _Always and Forever_, in which the romance begins. **

** Aelyna. **


End file.
